Ratsasan Is Great Except For One Thing

I enjoyed pretty much everything about Ratsasan except for its horrific representation of females as police officers. Women are rarely police officers in Kollywood films, and furthermore, even if they are, they're definitely not in any high positions and are usually seen working with or working under other male officers. However, in this film, we get to see a female who is not only a main character - I use the term "main" loosely - but also a police officer who's actually higher in the hierarchy than our hero Arun. Unfortunately, there's nothing exciting about this, as Arun doesn't take heed to this female officer even once. And even worse is the fact that the female officer is an egotistical, incompetent maniac whose sole purpose in this film is to get in the way of solving the case and simultaneously annoying everyone around her. I wish she could have at least gotten a character arc where she finally realizes that yes, her subordinate is right about everything in a way he could never be if this wasn't a movie, but unfortunately, she's a terrible character and person from beginning to end.

As if this wasn't bad enough, it seems that her being a female as well as a mother is utilized to further accentuate her incompetence and self-absorption in the film; for example, she is constantly picking up calls from her children while she's working. She talks to them sweetly while she orders a man to beat a man half to death, and she later sings her child an English lullaby on the phone while Arun is trying to tell her that he knows exactly who the serially killer - but she could care less. Her role in the film ends when an old man has enough of her and handcuffs her, locking her in her office; this old man also happens to call her by the nickname "demon" when she's not within earshot.

Although I really enjoyed the plot of Ratsasan and found myself immersed in the story - though I don't really see the need for Arun to be a wannabe filmmaker, but that's a whole different thing - the terrible representation of women as police officers is quite frankly, offensive. The single, truly useless officer in the film happens to be the only female police officer, and they way she's treated and represented in this film is obnoxious and small-minded, and it takes away from an otherwise decent film.